Police officers in the States don’t exactly have the best track record, generally speaking, and sometimes, a bad situation with a bad cop can solidify their poor reputation. That said, a driver who recently moved to Alabama from Florida earlier this year obtained permanent tags for their car. Prior, they had temporary tags that expired in February. While driving back through Jefferson County, a random Florida cop pulled them over for “expired tags.” Without hesitation, the driver showed the proper paperwork, but the officer called them a liar, saying the proof “is made up” and issued a ticket anyhow.
Confused, “I logged into Houston County’s online renewal system and sure enough, it says my car is good until January 2026,” said the Alabama resident. Even after their thorough explanation and presentation of the paperwork, the officer said “that my paperwork doesn’t matter and that I could have made fake copies of things.” As aggravating as the accusation was, there was no use fighting against a police officer, so the driver had no choice but to accept the ticket. But they aren’t about to go down and pay the fine without a fight.
“This sounds like a new way to scam innocent drivers,” remarks a commenter in the driver’s complaint post on r/legaladvice. Others come into the comment section, telling similar stories of how they possessed paperwork from the DMV about their vehicle’s status, but policemen still ended up giving them tickets regardless. “[It’s just an] Easy source of revenue to just collect the fines assessed to out-of-town tourists that may or may not be guilty but can’t realistically come back,” explains one user.
One rather discouraging individual recommended that OP just pay the fine and get it over with, even if they’re innocent. “It’s honestly super tempting,” they respond, as the money they’ll pay for the ticket will be lower than the money and trouble to take a day off to visit the county in Florida. “Out of spite, I’m going to try and fight this because I don’t want it to follow me but what the actual f***,” they growl.
“Fight it and also make a formal complaint in person about the officer,” a user says, cheering OP on to take a stand. Police officers, especially in this day and age, push innocent citizens around like it’s in their job description to do so. It’s admirable this Alabama resident is choosing to take a stand and not just let a crooked cop get away with earning ‘free money’ for the state county.
